US renewable fuel company Montana Renewables – an unrestricted subsidiary of Calumet – has completed the MaxSAF expansion at its Great Falls facility, Biomass Magazine wrote.
Located in Great Falls, Montana, the facility now has the capacity to produce 150M gallons (568M litres)/year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the 11 May report said.
In 2024, Montana Renewables was awarded a US$1.44bn loan from the US Department of Energy to support its MaxSAF initiative.
The proposed project aimed to increase production at the biorefinery to 330M gallons (1.25bn litres)/year, including 300M gallons (1.13bn litres)/year of SAF and 30M gallons (113.56M litres)/year of renewable diesel, Montana Renewables said on 10 January 2025.
Under the original timeline for the MaxSAF initiative, Calumet said it expected to have approximately half of the proposed 300M gallons (1.13bn litres)/year of SAF capacity online by 2026, with the project expected to be completed in 2028. The estimated capital cost for the first phase of the initiative was estimated at US$150M-US$250M, Biomass Magazine wrote.
In 2025, Calumet announced plans for a streamlined MaxSAF expansion what would bring 120M gallons (454.24 litres)/year to 150M gallons (567.81M litres)/year of SAF capacity online in early 2026 for an estimated US$20M-US$30M in capital. The streamlined project comprised primarily catalyst work and asset configuration.
During a first quarter earnings call on 8 May, Calumet president and CEO Todd Borgmann confirmed the company had now completed the streamlined MaxSAF expansion saying: “We brought down Montana Renewables for a turnaround in MaxSAF 150 expansion in early March and successfully commenced operations in early May.”
Now that the facility had resumed operations, Borgmann said the company would turn its focus to producing increased SAF volumes.
“Through the initial operating period, we’ll continue to condition the catalyst, complete a performance validation and deliberately and steadily ramp production,” he added.
Regarding plans to further increase SAF capacity in the future, Borgmann said the company was currently focused on completing commissioning of its recently completed SAF expansion but an independent project team was looking at the next phase of a modular opportunity.
“We are certainly bullish about the opportunity to continue to expand,” he added.
Located in Great Falls, Montana, Montana Renewables produces SAF, renewable diesel, renewable hydrogen and renewable naphtha.
The Montana Renewables business segment reported US$10.2M of adjusted EBITDA with tax attributes for the first quarter of 2026, compared to US$3.3M during the same period of the previous year.
Indiana-headquartered Calumet manufactures and markets a range of speciality branded products and renewable fuels from 12 facilities in North America.
